Improved bridle-bit



. UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

A. H. ROCKWELL, OF HARPERSVILLE, NEW YORK.

IMPROVED BRIDLE-BIT.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 70,745, dated November 12, 1867.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, A. H. RooKwELL, of Harpersville, in the county of Broome and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Bridle-Bit; and I do hereby declare that the followingis a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference beinghad to the accompanyin g drawings, forming part of this specification, in which-- t Figure l represents a side view of my invention. v Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the same. which this is an improvement.

Similar letters of reference indicate corre spondin g parts.

This invention relates to a new bridlebit which is an improvement on the ordina-ry fourring bit, and which has on a flexible mouthpiece two sliding bars, which are connected with a nose-strap or face-piece in such a manner that by pulling the reins the said bars will be forced together, thereby pressing with great force against both sides of the upper jaw of the horse.

The invention consists in interposing a third link between the two main pieces ofthe mouth piece, to prevent the sliding bars from sliding to the inner end ofthe opposite main piece of the mouth-piece.

The invention also consists in the use of the aforesaid sliding bars, which are superior to the rings now in use, as they offer more body and therefore have more power thanlthe rings.

'lhe ordinary four-ring bit consists, as in Fig. 3, of a mouth-piece, A, connected at its ends with two rings, a a', and carrying loosely two more rings, b b. The mouth-piece itself consists of two parts, c c, hinged together in the center. The difficulty with this bit was that when one rein-say-a-was pulled stronger than the other, a', the piece c, to which this rein was secured, would be brought into a more obliqueposition than the other piece, c. The ring b on such piecec would then slip to the center of the mouth-piece at the junction of its two parts, c c', and while the other ring, b', would remain at the end of its bar c' no pulling of the Fig. 3 is a view of the bridle-bit of.

reins would ever bring the rings b b equally far from the center. The mouth-piece would simply slip through the rings b and b and the horses mouth would remain squeezed between the rings. To avoid this diiculty I have inserted a link or bar, d, between the two main parts c and c ot' abridle-bit.

The bars f and f', which are substitutes for the rings heretofore used, slide on the pieces e c. The ends of the latter are connected with the rings g and g', into which the reins and the headstall are buckled. g, is pulledmore than the-other, the piece e, to which such rein is attached, will be brought into an oblique position, and its barf will slide as near as possible to the end of the bar d.

' against the mouth, and by slacking the iirst rein, g, a little or by pulling both withequal power the bars f and f' will be equally far from the ends of the bar d. v

In the upper ends of the bars f and j" are loops for fastening the nose-strap or face-piece B. The same can be fastened higher or lower in the bars, as may be desired, the aforesaid loops being provided with cross-bars h, as shown. The leverage of the bars f and j" can thus be diminished or increased at pleasure.'

A In Fig. 1 the nose-strap B is plainly shown. When it is not used the face-piece is applied in its place, which is shown by red lines in Fig. 1.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The mouthpiece A, when composed of three links, d, e, and c', and when combined with the sliding bars f f and with the rings g g', or their equivalents, all made and operating substantially as herein shown and described.

2. The bars f and f', when made to slide on a iiexible mouth-piece, when connected with the nose-strap B, and when made and-operating substantially as and for the purpose herein shown and described.

A. H. ROCKWELL.

When, now, one rein, 

